IN THE WOOD — Restaurant in Berkeley

Went here on a Saturday afternoon during Berkeley graduation weekend. The atmosphere was lovely, and the background chatter was at a fun volume. People are seated both inside and outside the bar, and you have to go inside to alert a server if you wish to dine outside. The food was lovely, and they had a good selection of boozy brunch drinks as well as alcoholic ones. There were a variety of vegetarian options as well, and one vegan meal plus many vegan sides. Many meat and salmon dishes as well.

The rating is 4 out of 5 stars because despite the nice food and atmosphere, the service left something to be desired. As previously stated, I went during the Berkeley graduation weekend , and it appears as though they were understaffed because the owner himself was bussing tables and seating people. However, this lack of staffing and extra customers led to a rather irksome communication breakdown. Many times we had to ask for a second bottle of water, and many times more did we have to ask for a third bottle of water, and we left quite a bit of time between the many requests. The biggest flaw was the fact that half the meal arrived, and the second half only came 15 or 20, minutes later, after we had asked the owner twice where the second half of the order was. No one came back to check on us. We had to try and alert staff who walked away from us to attend to another task. After delivering the check the waitress was apologetic and offered to get us a drink as an apology, but we were finished with the meal at that point. I don't blame the staff themselves - they were kind and courteous and overwhelmed - but I wish there had been more communication with us once the...

My husband and I have really been enjoying this new addition to Elmwood. We've been here a number of times now and everything we've tried has been delicious! The Mikey Boy and Travesty wood-fired pizzas are awesome as are the tacos and sliders and the burger. They have a great selection of beers for my IPA-loving husband and a nice wine list with rosé and a couple of sparkling options for me. The ambiance is one of the biggest reasons we love coming here -- it's warm and cheery and the wait staff is friendly (tho could be a bit quicker at times, depending where you sit.) On nice days the windows are open to the charming outdoor seating area and the whole space is airy and bright. They did a very nice job on the interior updates, including attractive lighting, paint colors and wood paneling, and artwork that is perfect for the space and location. Two TVs make sports fans happy and are not intrusive to the main dining room but well positioned for the bar, which is where we like to sit and only wish there was more bar seating. In The Wood has the casual-modern neighborhood vibe that we were missing, and we're well on our way to...

I can say I had a solidly okay experience here. The food is fine, but it's not worth the price. I ate here with a group and the first thing we ordered were salads for the table. The caesar salad was very wilted, to the point where parts of the lettuce were brown. I ordered one of their burgers, which was about $17, which comes with a side salad. I asked to substitute fries and was told "we don't do that here." While I understand some places don't do substitutions, I can't imagine buying a $17 burger and then a $5 side of fries.

Once again, the burger left something to be desired. The description of the "In The Wood" burger sounded great, but in reality it's a burger, cheese, greens, and two condiments for $17. Any add-on to make this an interesting burger cost another $4. The side salad was very boring, and the arugula on my burger was also wilted. There was so much aioli on my burger that I couldn't pick it up without spilling aioli on my shoes. This restaurant is okay, but I don't think I'll...